Still Watching the Skies: Episode 41 “Bad Taste”

Nat, Cody, and Robert (with a special cameo appearance from John Bierly of Peace Fund Radio) take a trip to the other side of the world and the earliest days of Peter Jackson’s career with 1987’s BAD TASTE. It’s a film that takes its title as a mission statement.

Long before THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Peter Jackson got his start with this DIY splatter comedy. The basic plot has aliens invading a New Zealand village with the ultimate goal of harvesting humans for their fast food franchise, until they come up against the four man crew of New Zealand’s alien defense force. Shot principally on weekends over the course of four years, BAD TASTE was written, directed, shot, and co-starred Peter Jackson in multiple roles. He even gets to fight himself here.

BAD TASTE is a quintessential midnight movie full of ridiculous amounts of gore, violence, and juvenile humor. We talk about all of that and whether the film shows promise for Peter Jackson as a future filmmaker or not. John Bierly provides us with a story of how it affected a class of unknowing high school students. Robert also insults the country of New Zealand.

If that’s not enough, Nat and Robert also take some time to discuss Guillermo Del Toro’s THE SHAPE OF WATER.

We have a bit of a different structure this episode. So, to help you out, some time tracks are below.

Intro and BAD TASTE Discussion 0:00 to 28:21

THE SHAPE OF WATER Discussion 23:21 to 45:33

More BAD TASTE Discussion 45:33 to 59:48

Next Month’s Film and Outro 59:48 to End

You don’t have to travel to New Zealand for this, you can give us a play below or Download the episode. Also, feel free to let us know what you think by commenting below or Email Us at [email protected] as we appreciate feedback.

Next month, we return to the 1980s and a different end of the 1987 filmmaking spectrum with Joe Dante’s Hollywood blockbuster INNERSPACE. We hope you join us as we get small and try to make sense of this film.